German Teen Who Joined Islamic State: ‘I Just Want to Go Home to My Family’

A German teenager who left home to join the Islamic State (ISIS) said that she regrets what she did and wants to go home to be with her family.

Reuters reports that several German media outlets interviewed Linda Wenzel, 16, in the infirmary of a military prison in Baghdad, Iraq, where she is being held in detention.

“I just want to get away from here,” she reportedly told local media outlets. “I want to get away from the war, from the many weapons, from the noise.”

Der Spiegel magazine reports that Wenzel is one of four German women being held at the Iraqi prison for allegedly joining ISIS during the past few years and all are receiving support from the German consulate.

The teenager told the media outlets that she wishes she could be extradited to Germany and said she would comply with the authorities.

“I just want to go home to my family,” she said.

Wenzel is recovering from a gunshot wound to her left thigh and an injury to her right knee that she said she sustained during a helicopter attack, according to German media outlets.

German prosecutors have been monitoring reports to see if a 16-year-old girl who is under investigation for pledging allegiance to ISIS was one of five women captured in Mosul.

German authorities say they are investigating to confirm whether Wenzel is the girl who went missing last summer from her home in Pulsnitz for allegedly conspiring with ISIS to plot a terror attack in Germany before being smuggled into Iraq from Turkey.

Chief prosecutor Lorenz Haase of Dresden said he would not confirm whether the teen fought for ISIS.

“Our information ends with the girl’s arrival in Istanbul about a year ago,” he said.